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The Spark Award for Oregon Artists

The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation believes that the arts connect us to each other in powerful and surprising ways and help us make sense of our world. By celebrating the vital role artists play in enriching the lives of all Oregonians, we recognize that artists are essential to our state’s vitality.

For over two decades, the Foundation has funded the arts throughout Oregon, primarily through supporting the work of arts organizations.
We are now pleased to introduce our new Spark Award for Oregon Artists, a pilot program that will provide direct support to 60 artists across artistic disciplines who are at a midpoint of their career
.

About the award

This program supports individual artists in Oregon as a valuable investment in both the artists themselves and the communities enriched by their work.

  • This three-year pilot program will support 60 Oregon artists (20 per year) in various artistic fields.
  • The program invests in the overall creative development of artists rather than focusing on particular projects.
  • This funding is to support artists at a midpoint of their career during a crucial phase of their artistic growth.
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photo credit: 谢 昊

The 2024 deadline has passed. Sign up for our newsletter for updates on the 2025 timeline.

Flexible funds

The Miller Foundation will grant $25,000 to each artist selected. Recipients can receive the award in a lump sum shortly after being selected or in multiple payments. Awardees will receive a 1099 MISC form.

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Supporting you as an artist

Funds can address any barriers to sustaining and advancing your artistic practice, offering time to explore, reflect, connect, or create work at a particularly important moment in your creative development.

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Meeting a wide range of needs

  • You determine how to use the funds, from living expenses such as rent, childcare or healthcare, to research or material support.
  • Award recipients will not be required to present new artistic work created with this funding.

Disciplinary focus by year

Each year the Spark Award pilot program will support working artists in a limited set of disciplines. The application will be open to one discipline each year.

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2024

Performing Arts

Individual artists creating original work in the performing arts: dance, music, theater, and other performance practices, traditional and folk performance, Culture Bearers and interdisciplinary artists whose work includes the performing arts as one of the primary forms of expression

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2025

Literary and Media Arts

Individual artists creating original work in the fields of literary art and media arts: narrative film, video, or new media, graphic novelists, traditional and folk literary and media arts, Culture Bearers and interdisciplinary artists whose work includes the literary or media arts as one of the primary forms of expression

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2026

Visual Arts

Individual artists creating original work in the visual arts: 2- and 3-dimensional, non-commercial photography, non-narrative digital video or film, traditional and folk visual arts, Culture Bearers and interdisciplinary artists whose work includes the visual arts as one of the primary forms of expression

The 2024 application deadline has passed.
Sign up for our newsletter for updates on the 2025 timeline.
Not sure if your work is a fit for this year's funding? Read our full guidelines (PDF) or (Plain Text PDF).

Who can apply?

Eligible applicants will be individual artists who meet these basic criteria (more eligibility details below):

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photo credit: Vijesh Datt

  • 30 years of age or older with 7+ years of a sustained art practice (not including schooling)
  • Regularly creating and presenting new work to audiences
  • Producing original work in eligible disciplines
  • Oregon resident for last 5 years

The Miller Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Our process

The 2024 deadline has passed. Applications were due by 5:00PM on October 2, 2024.

  • Submit individual artist application through the Artist Grants Portal.
  • Panel review and selection with Oregon residency required for awarded artists.
  • Funding awarded! The one-time, $25,000 awards for performing artists will be announced by early 2025.
  • Artists report back about a year after receiving the award, sharing how the funding supported their creative growth and furthered their artistic career.
Support Working Artists mural

photo credit: Sara Sjol. Artists: ERAS and Never Satisfied| Portland Street Art Alliance

How to apply

Our Artist Grants Portal will guide artists through the application process. Applicants will create a profile, complete the eligibility quiz, and provide the following information:

Bio & Artist statement

Tell us who you are and share your background, influences, and journey as an artist.

More Information
Narrative questions

Explain how this funding would provide momentum for your creative practice and/or remove barriers at this particular stage of your career. Tell us about your engagement with Oregon audiences/communities.

More Information
Detailed Artist CV

Provide details of training, background and experience related to your current artistic practice.

More Information
Work samples for performing arts

Share samples created in the last 7 years that you consider the best examples of your creative work.

More Information

We're here to help

The 2024 deadline has passed.

Sign up for our newsletter for updates on the 2025 timeline.

  • Review our full application guidelines (PDF) or (Plain Text PDF), which include detailed eligibility criteria, the application questions and required materials, and details of the review process. A list of Frequently Asked Questions is also available.
  • View a recording of our Info Session (view PDF transcription here) and read more tips and resources here.
  • Access 1:1 Spark Support: On September 17 - 19, 2024 we will offer 15-minute, one-on-one meetings with prospective applicants on Zoom or over the phone, to provide individualized application support. Register in advance here.
  • Attend our Open Support Session: On September 25, 2024 Miller staff will facilitate a shared virtual workspace for applicants to ask questions and work on their applications in community. Register for Zoom here.
  • Request assistance: We are committed to making this application accessible. Please contact Yaelle Amir at [email protected] to request translation, interpretation, or other assistance you might require in completing the application.

Additional information

Activities that we do not currently fund include:

To be eligible for funding through this program in 2024, you will:

  • be a working artist currently creating original work in the performing arts. (We do not expect that working artists have a practice that necessarily supports them as their primary source of income.)
  • be entering or at a midpoint of your art career “midpoint" is defined here as an artist 30 years or older who is able to demonstrate 7+ years (not including schooling) of a sustained art practice with likely future contributions in their discipline(s). A post-secondary degree of any kind is not a requirement.
  • have presented your work to audiences/the community on a regular basis
  • have a practice creating new work (rather than interpreting, translating, arranging, or
    copying the work of others)
  • have been a resident in the state of Oregon for the last five years and at the time of application, and anticipate staying in residence for the next year. This includes enrolled members of tribal communities situated in the state. (A “resident of Oregon” is a person who would be required to file a resident Oregon income tax return.)
  1. Applicant cannot currently be enrolled in a creative degree program (associates, low residency, undergraduate, graduate). These funds cannot support tuition toward a degree program.
  2. Applicant cannot be an emerging artist (less than seven years of professional practice outside of schooling) and cannot be an artist in the later stages of an artistic career (an artist who has experienced ongoing professional recognition and success over many years).
  3. Artists working in the literary, media, and visual arts are not eligible to apply in 2024.
  4. Applicants employed by an arts organization in an artistic or leadership capacity are only eligible if they have an individual artistic practice independent from the work of that organization.*
  5. This funding is to support individual artists rather than artistic teams. Applicants can work with collaborators if they choose to do so, but only individual applicants will be considered.
  6. Applicant cannot be a family member of an employee or board member of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, or the Foundation's namesakes (Family member is defined as a spouse, domestic partner, parent, child or sibling).

* These grant funds are intended to support the work of individual artists rather than the work of arts organizations. Arts organizations are eligible to receive operating support through other Miller grant programs. We would like to ensure that organizations who are eligible to receive funding from the Miller Foundation to support their staff and operations are not potentially receiving duplicate support through this program (i.e. supporting the creation of a single work with Miller organizational support AND a Spark Award).

Review panelists will consider the following criteria when reviewing applications in the performing arts:

Originality: Artist’s work demonstrates a distinctive vision and voice, communicates unique perspective/s (Materials: Artist statement, Work samples)

Skill: Artist demonstrates strong technical skills and craft in the execution of their work and shows an ongoing commitment to working in this form (Materials: Work samples)

Community: Application demonstrates sustained audience/community engagement with applicant’s artistic work (Materials: Resume/CV, Work samples)

Timing and Potential: Application provides compelling evidence that funding will have a significant impact on the artist’s creative development at this juncture in their career and will support their artistic potential. This could be by removing barriers to sustaining and advancing the artist’s practice or serving as a catalyst to a new stage of artistic development (Materials: Narrative questions, Resume/CV)

Please note: The application materials noted above are the most relevant to the evaluation of that particular criteria.

We’re here to help! Please contact Yaelle Amir at [email protected] with questions or to request assistance or accommodations.

We are offering access to 1:1 Spark support and will host an Open Support Session. Details here.

Our program guidelines, including a preview of the eligibility and application questions, are available for download here (PDF) (or Plain Text PDF). A list of Frequently Asked Questions is available for download here (PDF).

To get started, create an account in our Artist Grants Portal here.

Get started

The 2024 application deadline has passed. Awards will be announced by early 2025.

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photo credit: Jasmin Schreiber